Statoil hits gas column in Barents Sea

Statoil Petroleum AS, the operator of production licence 532 in the Barents sea, is in the process of completing the drilling of the Kramsnø prospect (well 7220/4-1).

The well has been drilled about 11 kilometres northwest of the 7220/8-1 Johan Castberg discovery in the Barents Sea and about 247 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.

The well’s primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle and Early Jurassic (Stø, Nordmela and Tubåen formations). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Late Triassic (Snadd formation).

The well encountered a gross gas column of about 130 metres in the Stø and Nordmela formations, with poorer reservoir quality than expected. In the Snadd formation, the well encountered an approximately. 45-metre tall gross gas column.

Preliminary calculations indicate that the discovery totals between two and four billion standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable gas.

The well was not formation tested, but extensive data collection and sampling have been carried out.

This is the sixth exploration well in production licence 532. The licence was awarded in the 20th licencing round in 2009.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3209 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Snadd formation from the Middle to Late Triassic. Water depth is 403 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 7220/4-1 was drilled by the West Hercules drilling rig, which will now move on to drill wildcat well 7220/7-3 S on another prospect in the same production licence.

“We are approaching the end of the current drilling program around the Johan Castberg field. Unfortunately, out of the four wells drilled to date only one has resulted in an oil discovery. The last prospect we will test in this exploration campaign is Drivis, and we will commence drilling operations right after the completion of Kramsnø,” says Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s senior vice president exploration Norway.

Rummelhoff explains that the Johan Castberg area has a diverse range of potential prospects. The exploration campaign has been designed to embrace this diversity and get the best possible understanding of the total resource base in the area.

“The exploration campaign is serving its purpose of maximising our knowledge of the area, but has not provided the additional resources we hoped for. This makes it even more important to improve the development concept and reduce investments,” says Erik Strand Tellefsen, vice president field development northern Norway.

Statoil is operator for production licence PL532 with an ownership share of 50%. The licence partners are Eni Norge AS (30%) and Petoro AS (20%).